ReconciliationBy Charli Orsini year 8 2017

The prodical son

11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’[b] 22 But the father said to his servants,[c] ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

What does Jesus teach us about forgiveness?

In this parable The Prodical Son the son had disappointed his father three times in the story.

Was greedy and wanted his share of the money,

He left home and his family behind. He was reckless with his money spending it all

Was selfish with his decision and didn't care about his father

The father could have easily said to his son that he was frustrated with him and didn't want him back in his life but with Jesus guidance and support the father forgave his son by celebrating of his arrival back.

Types of sin

Original sins: Original sins are born into all of us. We are then baptised in to the life of Christ and become part of the church.

Personal sins : any free or deliberate action, word or thought or desire which turns us away from gods love.

Social sins : these are sins that exist within the society. It refers to the many people suffering in a society.

Venial sins : are sins that fail to help us grow in a loving relationship with god or weaken that relationship.

Mortal sins: are free and deliberate choices of something gravely contrary to the law of god. If you do a mortal sin then when you die you will live in hell.

My reconciliation prayer

Dear God , forgive me lord as I have hurt you. With your love support and forgiveness, I will always strive to live in your footsteps. When I do wrong, I know you will be holding my hand in the light of the lord. Free me from sins to walk in the journey with you.

the article i chose.

What sins did this man commit?

This man committed several criminal offenses and sins to this poor innocent girl:

Rapped her

Took sexual photos of her with no clothes on and in sexual poses

Lied about his identity

Betrayed Masha's trust

Held Masha against her will

In the law of the catholic faith this man has committed persona, social and mortal sins therefore when he dies he will go to hell.

How has this affect them both?

Masha has been negatively affected in many ways as a result of the abuse that she endured for many years. Masha now has to live her life knowing that she has been sexually abused and may find it very difficult to get that vision out of her head. She will now need to live her life knowing that that such terrible physical and emotional abuse happened to her at such a young age. Abuse such as this will cause life long trauma affecting many of her future relationships as she may lack trust and may find it it very difficult to develop an emotional connection with others.

If the man in the article acknowledges his sins he will have to live his life knowing that he has hurt this little girl in many ways and living with the guilt that Masha will never be able to live a normal life again. He will also live his life with guilt around his treatment of this girl and guilt around the sins that he has committed. If he is strong in his Catholic faith he may ask for forgiveness of his sins, however, when he dies will go to hell because he has committed a mortal sin.

How healing and forgiveness can be applied to this story.

As difficult it would be for me to forgive someone if they did this to a member of my family, I am Catholic and it is part of my faith as Jesus teaches us to forgive other. Jesus taught us that when we repent of the bad things we've done and ask God to forgive us, He will hear us and forgive us. But first, we must forgive those who have wronged us, otherwise God the Father will not forgive us.

I believe that if a sin such as rape and child pornography was committed against a family member of mine I would need to strongly examine my conscience and my faith.

In order to forgive I would try to walk in Jesus' footsteps to forgiveness. Jesus shows forgiveness in the bible passage Zacchaeus the Tax Collector ( Luke 19:1-10 ).

Zacchaeus was a dishonest man whose curiosity led him to Jesus Christ and salvation. Ironically, his name means "pure" or "innocent" in Hebrew. Jesus was passing through Jericho one day, but because Zacchaeus was a short man, he could not see over the crowd. He ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to get a better view. To his astonishment and delight, Jesus stopped, looked up, and ordered Zacchaeus to come down because he would stay at his house.

The crowd, however, muttered that Jesus would be socializing with a sinner. Jews hated tax collectors because they were dishonest tools of the oppressive Roman government. The self-righteous in the crowd were especially critical of Jesus’ interest in a man like Zacchaeus, but Christ was demonstrating his mission to seek and save the lost.